How much money 'BBC Dad' and his family actually made from hilarious 2017 interview that went viral
Prof Robert Kelly, known to millions as 'BBC Dad', has finally answered the question he says he gets asked more than any other: How much money did his family make from that viral 2017 interview?
"Yes, we have made some money off the video, but not very much," Kelly said.
"This is one of the most common questions I am asked, so in the interests of full disclosure, yes we have profited from it a bit," he explained.
"In the months after the video, we were solicited a lot for commercials and things like that. But most of the offers fell through."
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Kelly went on to say the family did a job for Johnson & Johnson and appeared on an end-of-year talk show.
He has also been invited to speak at events more regularly since with some of those appearances paid.
"But the total amount was not that much, and was more like a one-time windfall than a major change in income," he said.
Kelly was speaking live to BBC from his home on March 11th 2017, giving his analysis of the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, when his children walked in.
His daughter Marion, then four, marched in first. While the reporter in the studio pointed out the little visitor, Kelly tried to nudge her way without breaking eye contact with the camera.
His son James, just a few months old, then arrived in his walker, before Kelly's wife, Jung-a-Kim, careened into the room to both pull children out.
The clip has since racked up 65 million views on the BBC's YouTube channel.
Kelly told the Guardian at the time that he and Jung-a both believed the mishap 'was the end of my career as a talking head'. "I thought I'd blown it in front of the whole world," he added.
In a 2018 essay for the Lowy Institute, Kelly wrote that he had gained a nickname he expected to keep for life. "I acquired a new moniker, one I will likely carry with me for the rest of my life: 'BBC Dad,'" he said. He added that strangers regularly asked him for photos.
"A cop in South Korea once pulled me over to ask for a selfie," he wrote. "It is quite a curious sensation to be a quasi-celebrity, especially when you haven't really done anything to earn it."
He also recalled how some onlookers 'tried to read some kind of race-gender narrative into the video', seeing it as 'some sort of metaphor for white-male social power in Asia'. Some wrongly identified his wife as the nanny.
"We personally see no ideological content in the video," Kelly wrote, stressing that it was not staged and was simply a 'legitimate family blooper'.
What is the BBC Dad family doing now?
The family returned for a second BBC interview in 2020 to discuss Covid-19 measures in South Korea, and the children once again struggled to sit still.
Kelly has since shared regular updates on his kids. On X yesterday (September 29), he posted new photos, with Marion now 13 and James 10.
"Some BBC Dad content," he wrote. "It's been awhile: My birthday; James and I hiking; Marion looking very grown-up; BBC Mom and I at a street festival."
The post has already picked up almost 10 million views. "Incredible how time flies. The babies are now teenagers!" one person commented.
Another suggested: "One of these days your family needs to recreate the scene. You'll blow up Twitter again."
Topics: Social Media, BBC, Korea
Thomas Bamford